


Fit the Mold

by ferix79



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Body Swap sort of, Chronic Pain, FFXV Kink Meme, Friendship, Gen, Gen or Pre-Slash, Gladio does his best, Hurt/Comfort, Pre-Canon, Pre-Gladnis relationship if you squint towards the end, Understanding, its crystal magic i aint gotta explain shit, more like pain tolerance swap haha
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-02
Updated: 2017-03-02
Packaged: 2018-09-27 23:02:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10055846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ferix79/pseuds/ferix79
Summary: Noctis suffers from chronic pain, but his princely duties slow down for no one. Fed up with Gladio's impossible training, he wishes Gladio could feel what it's like to live in his shoes. Just foroneday.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I've been staring at the prompt for a while. Something quick today cause it's been a minute since I wrote.  
> Prompt-  
> http://ffxv-kinkmeme.dreamwidth.org/841.html?thread=800585
> 
> Noct is 14 in this, Ignis 17 and Gladio 18.

On most days it took Ignis at least ten minutes to rouse Noctis from sleep and get him out of bed.

“Noct, please; you’re going to be late to school at this rate.”

Today it took fifteen.

“Alright already, Ig,” a pained groan came from underneath the comforter, followed by the rustle of sheets. Finally, he was up. Ignis almost allowed himself to feel relief, but getting out of bed was just half the battle.

He guided the prince to his attached washroom, pushing a clean uniform into his hands along the way. Wash your face, comb your hair, get dressed and tie your tie, Ignis told him—it was the same process every day—and do be quick about it, Noct. Same as every day, Ignis worried he’d been too harsh as he shut the washroom door behind the prince. He couldn’t stop moving, though; they wouldn’t have time to eat breakfast in Noct’s room together. His breakfast could wait until later, he would have to box up Noct’s and have him eat it in the car on the way to school.

Still, he had to help Noctis button the top buttons on his shirt and knot his tie before they left the room. Ignis knew it wasn’t for lack of trying. Tiny buttons and proper knots on ties were just…too fiddle-y for Noctis’ fingers, most days.

Ignis tried his best to make light conversation in the car, all while going a little faster than was proper and urging Noctis to eat more of his eggs and toast. The minute he pulled up to the school gates, though, Noctis threw open the door and paid him a grumbling goodbye. The remains of his breakfast still sat in a plastic container on the seat, just barely half of it eaten. Ignis sighed, watching Noctis’ slouching form retreat towards the building, then popped the lid back on the container and pulled away.

Staying awake in class was nigh-on impossible for Noctis, especially today. The warming weather combined with the low drone of the teacher’s voice and the soft chirping of birds outside…it was the perfect recipe for a midmorning nap.

Not to mention the topic they’re covering in Lucian History today was boring as all hell. Something about an ancient queen who disregarded the public eye and lived her life in the shadows. Huh, Noctis thought, what a freaking blessing that would be. He knew he would never be given such a luxury, though.

He finally nodded off after Prompto stopped jabbing him in the side with the blunt end of his pen. The blonde went about his own business, then, scrawling notes into his notebook for Noctis to copy later. After their teacher wrapped up her lecture, he titled the page “The Rogue Queen” in large letters across the margin. Casting a sidelong glance at the still slumbering prince, he wondered if Noctis would come to be called “The Napping King” someday far in the future.

Contrary to popular belief, Noctis _did_ like to get a little exercise when he was feeling up to it. Sometimes he would walk around the Citadel’s rooftop garden with Ignis or toss a baseball back and forth with Prompto when his wrists weren’t too sore.

Gym class at school, though, was a very different animal. Fifty minutes of nonstop physical activity when he knew he had to train with Gladio later on? Yeah, no thanks, he passed on that.

Luckily, a note from his father and they royal doctor meant he didn’t have to participate in many physical activities. Most days he sat on the benches that lined the school, hiding away in the shade of the building. On his best days he played soccer for twenty or thirty minutes with the rest of the class, but he had to be careful. He once got a little too wrapped up in the game and collapsed in the middle of the field, his knees protesting every movement as he tried and tried to pull himself up off the ground. He ended up being carried on Prompto’s back to the nurse’s office, and getting a serious scolding from Ignis when he was sent home early.

Studying with Ignis wasn’t terrible, but only because he actually enjoyed Ignis’ company, compared to his teacher’s. Gazing into the seemingly endless words in the textbook, though, raised so many questions. Ignis always said he’d understand the material if he paid more attention in class, but Noctis didn’t buy it. There was no way they covered all this stuff in just an hour long class.

He forced himself to read as much of the tiny black text on the glaring white background as he could stomach, but somewhere past the thirty minute mark he felt a headache coming on. Ignis took pity on him today, though, and let him go early to prepare for training with Gladio. Noctis rushed out of the library without waiting for Ignis to follow—if he got up to his room quick enough he could squeeze in a fifteen minute nap before he was expected back down in the training rooms.

There were some days that he was too tired to even lift the sword. He had to _try though, god dammit_ , because he knew Gladio believed in him. He knew Ignis and his father just wanted to prepare him for his future, but it _hurt._

“Come on, Noct!” Gladio shouted from across the room, hefting his sword up on his shoulder like it was a feather, “You’ve done this maneuver before, I know you can do it again if you try!”

That was the last straw, for today.

“I’m trying, Gladio! Shit!” He threw the practice sword to the ground, hunching over with his hands on his knees, “And just because I did it yesterday doesn’t mean I can do it again today! Just…just give me a fucking minute!” Shouting so loud left him winded and he slouched down a little lower. He didn’t hear Gladio’s heavy footfalls approaching over his pounding head and ragged breath.

“Hey, who gave permission to use that kind of language?” Gladio snarled, grabbing Noctis’ upper arm and yanking him to stand up straight. Pain bloomed anew in Noctis’ shoulder and he used the same amount of force to yank his arm back, though that did nothing but make the pain worse. He cradled his arm close, glaring up into his shield’s eyes, and…

Gladio had to admit, he only just noticed the dark bags under his prince’s eyes. He thought of controlling his temper, as his father often lectured him, and let the anger drain away.

“That’s enough for today,” he didn’t look to see the surprise on Noctis’ face, instead stooping to pick up Noctis’ abandoned sword and moving to return them to the weapon rack, “Just go rest, your highness.”

Ignis accompanied Noctis back to his room. The prince collapsed into the nearest armchair as soon as he was in the door, watching Ignis gather up a bath towel and a fresh pair of sleep clothes. He shifted anxiously, trying to find a comfortable position; he’d _just_ sat down, couldn’t a shower wait until later? Like, tomorrow later?

Apparently not, because Ignis managed to coerce him into the washroom right after he started the water, giving it time to warm. Noctis’ only saving grace was the plastic seat in the middle of the stall—Ignis made it a top priority after he’d nearly slipped in the shower once—so he sat under the spray and hoped Ignis would actually believe he was washing himself. The hot water felt nice against his sore shoulders, at least.

After the shower Ignis helped him dry his hair—there was _no way_ he was holding the hair dryer up after Gladio’s stunt earlier—and left him to fall into a fitful sleep. He tossed and turned under the blanket; with it on he was too hot, but without it he was too cold. Not to mention trying to find a comfortable position was more often than not a hopeless venture. He ended up on his side, hugging a pillow to his chest, and hoping that tomorrow would be a better day. If only Gladio could spend a day in his shoes; feeling the pain that he felt every minute of every hour of every day. Just one day, _one day_ , and he was sure that Gladio would never look at him the same way again.

 

* * *

 

The next day, by some miracle, he found that his prayers were answered.

For what might have been the first time ever, he was awake and fully dressed before Ignis even got to his room. Taking their time to eat breakfast together and have a nice conversation in the car on the way to school was something Noctis thought he’d like to do every day, too. Ignis asked him at least twice what he’d done with the real Prince Noctis, but he only responded with a shrug. He felt _amazing_ , did he really need a reason?

He beat Prompto to the classroom, taking his time to settle in and dig out his rarely-used notebook. It was empty, save for a few half-assed notes scratched into the first two pages from the beginning of the year. He turned to a fresh, blank page, took out a pen and waited for the lesson to start.

“Has Lucian history always been that interesting?” He asked Prompto on their way to gym class, still flipping through the pages of notes he’d taken.

“Huh, do you mean today’s lesson? Personally I thought the Rogue Queen was more interesting, but you slept through that whole lesson,” Prompto explained, and Noctis almost felt bad. Had he really been missing out on all this? “But the Tall King’s a pretty cool guy, too, yeah.”

The gym teacher let them pick their own activity that day, so of course Noctis joined Prompto and a few of their other classmates in a game of soccer. Noctis leapt at the opportunity to _finally_ prove that he wasn’t weak, or stupid, in incapable, that he was indeed _good_ at an activity that wasn’t napping. And he did prove it, scoring three goals before the period was over.

Prompto tackled the prince to the ground in joy after he scored the winning goal just before their teacher called for them to go back inside. They fell to the grass in a pile of limbs and laughter, and then Noctis surprised everyone—himself included—by hauling Prompto onto his back and giving him a piggy back ride back to the locker room.

"It's payback, for before." He called over his shoulder, but Prompto was far too busy imagining himself atop a trusty black chocobo to care. 

Ignis greeted him with a warm smile that afternoon, Noctis babbling away about his day as they rode back to the Citadel. During their usual study session he had _so_ many questions, especially since the royal library afforded him texts on the monarchs of old and the royal arms that no other students had access to. Had the old kings and queens always been this cool? Where were the royal arms? Luna has one of them, right? Wait, Ignis, do you have that accent because you’re from Tenebrae like Luna?

His friend laughed, taking it all in stride, and before either of them knew it Noctis had to go change clothes and train with Gladio. He bolted out of the library, calling a quick ‘Thanks, Iggy!’ over his shoulder before the massive door closed. The adviser only shook his head with a smile, gathering up the seven books they’d referenced this time. If only Noct could do so well every day—he usually had trouble getting the prince interested in even one book.

Noctis ran from his room down to the training rooms in record time, only to find that Gladio hadn’t arrived yet. No matter, he thought, and snatched a sword off the rack to take a few warm up swings while he waited.

“Hey,” Gladio grunted to Noctis when he finally arrived, leaning his whole bodyweight against the door to open it, then dragging his feet over to one of the aluminum chairs ringing the room. He gingerly eased himself down into it, stretched his legs out in front of him, and then looked to the prince.

“Look, champ, I know I’m usually a stickler for these things, but, I don’t know,” he groaned in pain, rubbing a hand on the juncture between his neck and shoulder, “We might have to cancel for today.”

Noctis’ eyes narrowed, his brows knitting together. Really? Today, on what was probably his best day in _years_ , and Gladio wouldn’t train with him? He wouldn’t stand for it.

“What’s wrong? You were fine yesterday?”

“I know, I didn’t even _do_ much yesterday, either!” Gladio exclaimed, “But I woke up this morning—I completely slept through my alarm, first of all—and, like, I could barely get out of bed. I had to lift my legs out of bed, Noct, because my knees hurt so much.” His shield was obviously looking for sympathy and, well, Noctis couldn’t blame him. That sounded…suspiciously like his mornings, on bad days.

“I didn’t have the energy to eat breakfast or lunch, but I finally got up and got dressed at one o’ clock. I had one of the servants bring up a snack and I thought I’d go to the medical wing because, duh, I feel like shit,” Gladio made a sweeping gesture with his arms and Noctis couldn’t help but smirk. Big hypocrite. “But I fell back asleep without even meaning to, and then woke up about an hour ago.”

Noctis knew there were so many ways he could respond to Gladio’s story, some of them dignified, some of them…not so. He let a silence fall in between them for a while, though Gladio didn’t seem to mind. The older boy was far too preoccupied with trying to keep his eyes open and his head from falling back against the wall.

“Do you…do you get it now?” Noctis finally spoke up, moving closer to Gladio.

“Huh?”

“Don’t you understand? That’s how I feel all the time, or, like, almost all the time. I’ve been having a great day, you know, yet you come here and tell me you want to cancel practice today…” He trailed off, looking down at the sword in his hands.

“I-I’m sorry, Noct, I didn’t know,” he mumbled, pulling himself up to sit a little straighter. Noctis knew it wouldn’t make his back feel any better, wouldn’t relieve the constant ache. In fact, it probably made him feel worse.

“It’s okay…”

“No, no, it’s not okay.” Gladio said, voice firm. It took him a good moment, but he pulled himself out of the chair and stood to his full height, slowly walking over to Noctis and resting a hand on his shoulder, “I had no idea you felt this bad all the time; I never meant to push you to the point of misery. We can come up with different stuff, Noct, different ways to train for when you can’t handle moving so fast.” Noctis was taken aback and said nothing in return. Frankly, some days he thought it _was_ Gladio’s intention to make him as sore as possible. “I’m…sorry I never noticed this before. Or thought to ask you. It was very unfair of me.”

Noctis almost replied ‘It’s okay’ again, but caught himself, because it wasn’t okay. “Thanks.”

“No problem. Let me know if you think of anything we can do, or anything that you really _can’t_ do,” Gladio said, rotating his shoulders back, trying to work the tension out of them, “Now about today…”

“What if I showed you what I can really do? I’ve been getting a lot better at warping, you know,” Noct was eager to show off, especially if he might not feel this good again for a long while. Gladio let out a hearty laugh at the sight of his big, pleading blue eyes.

“Sure, your highness. Now, if you don’t mind, I’m just gonna go back to my chair.” He turned achingly slow, his hips and knees moving in stiff tandem until he finally returned to the relief of being seated, “Alright, show me what’cha got, champ.”

When Ignis opened the door of the training room, he certainly hadn’t expected Noctis to be mid-air in some form of wild aerial feat.

“Iggy!” His arrival distracted the prince from his combination and he subsequently fell like a rock to padded mats below, yet sat up the next minute like nothing happened. Ignis rushed to his side.

“Noct, are you alright? That was quite a fall!” His hands hovered around Noctis, apprehensive. This was usually when the prince told him what hurt, and they’d figure out together how to get him back to his feet. This time, though, Noctis only gave him a beaming smile.

“I’m fine, Ig, but Gladio might need your help, this time.”

The adviser looked over to find the shield slumped into a flimsy aluminum chair. Gladio’s chin was tucked down into his chest and his breath even and slow with sleep. Ignis’ gaze softened at the sight, but knew there was no way Gladio would fall asleep like that of his own will.

“Gladio,” he said, voice soft but firm. The larger boy snorted and jerked awake, blinking up at Ignis.

“ ‘eyy Iggy. When did you get her—” he was interrupted by a yawn, then a grimace when the pain reared its ugly head again, “ ‘s it time to go already?” He fished in his pocket for his phone, only to find it had fallen to the floor sometime during his nap. His arm fell limply at his side; there was no way he was going to try and lean down to grab it. Luckily, Ignis knew this sort of body language well.

“I think it’s well past that for you,” he stooped, handing the phone back to Gladio and then looping one of the larger boy’s arms around his shoulders, “Come on, then, up you go! That’s it.” He was patient as Gladio stabilized himself, then he looked back to Noctis. “Let’s accompany him back to his room before we retire, your highness.”

Once the shield was safely back in his room and Ignis and Noctis were back in the elevator, ascending the floors to the prince’s room, the exhaustion finally hit Noct. It wasn’t the all encompassing fatigue and pain of a normal day, though. He felt…sated. Or satisfied. Like all the work he did was worth it and would make him stronger. Was this how Gladio felt every time he worked out or trained? No wonder he was addicted to it.

After a good shower—when _was_ the last time he washed his hair, anyway?— he sat down for a mug of hot cocoa with Ignis. He relaxed, boneless, into the chair, that sated ache from before settling deep in his muscles. He felt sleep pulling him down more and more by the minute.

Eventually Ignis patted his shoulder and took the empty mug from his hands. Oh, he’d dozed off at some point. Ignis guided him over to the bed and the security and warmth of the blankets was making it even harder to stay away.

“No, Ig…I don’t want this day to end…” His pillow was _far_ too soft, though.

“Not to worry, Noct, I’m sure tomorrow will be just as wonderful a day,” He knew it was a hopeful lie, but he couldn't blame himself for trying, “Now, get some rest.”

 

* * *

 

The next day, life in the Citadel was back to its normal pace. Noctis woke late, Ignis buttoned up his shirt and Noctis almost fell asleep on Ignis’ books. Gladio, however, was determined to make a change.

He began to reserve at least half an hour of their practice time to stretching and light yoga rather than warming up with jumping jacks and jogging. (And it turned out Noctis was very, _very_ flexible. Why hadn’t he noticed that earlier?) He inquired after Regis’ therapists and learned a few basic physical therapy moves that would help take pressure off Noctis’ back and alleviate pain. He urged Ignis to come to their practice sessions when he could, because a second pair of eyes might help catch little mistakes in Noctis’ form that were causing him unnecessary pain.

“My dad’s a huge health nut, you know,” he said to Ignis one day, watching the other boy flip helplessly through a recipe book, trying to find something equally nutritious and delicious for Noct. The adviser glanced up, not understanding why Gladio would blurt out such a thing, “Well, uh, I hear King Regis is a picky eater, too. So, when his health started degrading, my dad helped the cooks come up with stuff that would give him energy, but taste good. So, you know, maybe we could talk to him about it and he could help us do the same for Noctis.”

The lines of concern and frustration gradually loosened from Ignis’ features. “Yes, that sounds like a great idea. Thanks, Gladio.”

“No problem,” the shield mumbled from behind his hand, hoping the blush creeping up on his cheeks wasn’t obvious. Finally settling on a recipe, Ignis began to move around the kitchen.

“I never thanked you for doing your best to understand Noct,” he said, and Gladio cocked his head, “He’s the prince, so everyone likes to dump all these expectations on his shoulders, but the minute he says he’s stressed or can’t handle it, there’s no one there for him. Save for myself and his father, of course, but his father is a busy man, so most of the time that only leaves myself.” He looked Gladio right in the eyes, the shield flinching back from the intensity of his gaze, “But it’s…nice to finally have someone else who’s trying to understand the pain he’s going through. He can be a bit blunt, at times, but he’ll warm up if you take the time to listen to him. As I’m sure you’ll do.”

Another pointed look. Gladio knew there was only one answer, “Of course.”

Again, Ignis’ expression relaxed into a smile. “Excellent. Now, you’ll help me cut these carrots, won’t you?”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm gonna take this brief moment and get up on my soapbox to say Gladio is a good man. He's trying his best and I don't think he's problematic just because of the train scene in the game. Each of the boys are very different people and they all have strengths and flaws. And one of Gladio's flaws is that he doesn't deal with difficult emotional situations well. It's a part of his personality that they all have to work through as friends(/brothers/lovers/etc) because they're not going to give up on each other at the drop of a hat.  
> /rant
> 
> i'll defend Gladio with my life come fite me #leavegladioalone2k17  
>   
> [Here's a fun canon ref for Noct's flexibility](http://68.media.tumblr.com/8e016b8cd14264871dc762fe581e45c1/tumblr_octurr39Jf1v6aj9do1_400.gif)
> 
>  
> 
> [my tumblr](http://ferix-writes.tumblr.com/)


End file.
